Moriarty

Internationally bestselling author Anthony Horowitz's nail-biting new novel plunges us back into the dark and complex world of Detective Sherlock Holmes and Professor James Moriarty--dubbed "the Napoleon of crime"--in the aftermath of their fateful struggle at the Reichenbach Falls.Days after Holmes and Moriarty disappear into the waterfall's churning depths, Frederick Chase, a senior investigator at New York's infamous Pinkerton Detective Agency, arrives in Switzerland. Chase brings with him a dire warning: Moriarty's death has left a convenient vacancy in London's criminal underworld. There is no shortage of candidates to take his place--including one particularly fiendish criminal mastermind.Chase is assisted by Inspector Athelney Jones, a Scotland Yard detective and devoted student of Holmes's methods of deduction, whom Conan Doyle introduced in The Sign of FourMoriarty is the first Sherlock Holmes novel sanctioned by the author's estate since Horowitz's House of Silk. This tale of murder and menace breathes life into Holmes's fascinating world, again proving that once you have eliminated the impossible, whatever remains, however im- probable, must be the truth.

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I wasn't impressed with this story. It was very "just-in-case-you-missed-it" with its storytelling and overall mystery. I didn't appreciate how everything was slowly spoonfed to you. It was a lot of 4's instead of 2+2's. It was obvious how Moriarty was involved even though it was weird how he was "absent" for most of the story. I wasn't invested in the story, or the mystery. It felt like a wannabe Sherlock Holmes story. It could have been better. It makes me sad because I love a good Sherlock Holmes story and this was like...okay.

An interesting novel, that is well plotted, however it is excessively violent as others have mentioned. All other things considered it was an okay read, up to the last three chapters then the story turned about and I immediately lost interest in it (primarily due to a total about-face in one of the characters). For those people who love Sherlock Holmes this book will definitely disappoint you. Not Recommended!

I did not like this book in any way. The vicious excessive violence overshadows any legitimate attempt of the author to make an interesting story out of a different take on a Sherlock novel. The characterizations were boring and the plot pointless, disappointing for me.

Moriarty is a crime and adventure novel written by the well-known author Anthony Horowitz. This novel is the second in the House of Silk series. Which are a new take on stories by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. Moriarty is a 285 page, twenty-two chapter novel. Moriarty is a skillfully written book that will take you on a journey throughout 1890’s London and will have you guessing until the end.
This novel is set five days after Sherlock Holmes and his rival Moriarty fall to their deaths at Reichenbach falls. At a Swiss police station two detectives meet due to the same clue, but for different cases. One of these detectives is a Pinkerton agent (American Investigation Service) Frederick Chase, the narrator of the novel. The other is Scotland Yard detective, Athelney Jones, a former colleague to Sherlock Holmes on a couple of cases. The body of Moriarty is apparently found and both detectives examine the body. This starts a chain reaction of twists and turns which take the two detectives around London and stretches their newfound friendship to the extreme. And as a result Jones’ family duties and his work are tossed into the works. These new friends must capture this new criminal mastermind and reprimand him before all of England comes under his reign. As the blurb states, “The death of Moriarty has created a poisonous vacuum which has been swiftly filled by a fiendish new criminal mastermind who has risen to take his place.”
My favourite moment from the book is when Jones states to one of his informants, “A great evil has come to this country, just as I was warned, and here is the chance to be rid of it once and for all. Come Chase. Let us return to the surface. We have been in the dark for far too long and little time remains.” This is because it is the turning point for detective Jones as he starts to pick up pace and move with the case instead of waiting for the evidence to come to him.
This novel is written by Anthony Horowitz who is a very successful young adult fiction author. He has written series’ such as Alex Rider and The Power of Five. The readers who would enjoy this novel are young adults who are interested in crime fiction and or have read some or all of the Sherlock Holmes stories by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. The blurb is spot on when it states that Moriarty is, “A relentlessly thrilling tale which teases and delights by the turn of each page.”

nelson21
Apr 28, 2015

I can only agree with the other comments. Anthony Horowitz is usually an excellent writer but the last chapter of this book was a stinker. Had I known it would be this bad then I would not have taken time to read this book.

I was expecting more from Anthony Horowitz. This book was just "okay". After Holmes and Moriarty supposedly struggle and fall from Reichenbach Falls in Switzerland, a body is found nearby. It appears to be the body of Moriarty. The pocket of the dead man's coat holds a piece of writing from one of Dr. Watson's narratives published in Lippincott's magazine. The variation in upper and lowercase writing turns out to be in code and leads to the trail of an even more evil criminal mastermind.

A Scotland Yard detective (Athelney Jones) is called to Switzerland to confirm the identity of Moriarty. Jones met Sherlock Holmes previously and is a devoted follower of his methods. He joins forces with an American Pinkerton Detective Agency investigator (Frederick Chase) who is looking for a criminal kingpin who has recently left America to take up residence in London - the intended recipient of the coded note.

I found the book a trifle boring but much more violent than an original Sherlock Holmes story. I couldn't connect with any of the characters. The twist at the end was ludicrous since the story was written in a way that excluded the possibility of that twist (in my humble opinion). There were some interesting segments but overall I found the book to be average.

This would have been an extremely satisfying book to read if it wasn't for the last two chapters. They defy any literary explanation for the twist at the end which even the worst soap opera writers would be ashamed of writing.

The author does an excellent job of writing in a style reminiscent of A. C. Doyle while descending into the noir genre in content far beyond anything Doyle would have ventured into. The action is fast paced and holds interest till the end.

And then the twist at the end.... Why oh why must you spoil a book with this travesty?

My best guess is that the book started with the intent of a spin off series for a Holmes/Watson type pair but the Doyle estate balked to authorize it. So, rather than a rewrite, the author perhaps decided to kill off that direction and head in another direction in the last two chapters so the rest of the novel could stay as-is.

Follows what happens right after Reichenbach Falls. With Moriarity and Holmes both gone, the "game is afoot" with Inspector Jones and a pinkerton detective joining as a team to go after yet another master criminal. Lots of great allusions to many Sherlock Holmes stories and characters which makes it great fun for those very familiar with the tales. But there is a bit of disbelief to further suspend as the story reaches its climax.